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. 2021 Jan 27:8:599815.
doi: 10.3389/fvets.2021.599815. eCollection 2021.

Genetic Diversity of African Trypanosomes in Tsetse Flies and Cattle From the Kafue Ecosystem

Yukiko Nakamura  1   2 , Kyoko Hayashida  2   3 , Victoire Delesalle  4 , Yongjin Qiu  2 , Ryosuke Omori  2 , Martin Simuunza  5 , Chihiro Sugimoto  2 , Boniface Namangala  6 , Junya Yamagishi  2   3
Affiliations

Genetic Diversity of African Trypanosomes in Tsetse Flies and Cattle From the Kafue Ecosystem

Yukiko Nakamura et al. Front Vet Sci. .

Abstract

We clarified the genetic diversity of Trypanosoma spp. within the Kafue ecosystem, using PCR targeting the internal transcribed spacer 1 and the cathepsin L-like cysteine protease (CatL) sequences. The overall prevalence of Trypanosoma spp. in cattle and tsetse flies was 12.65 and 26.85%, respectively. Cattle positive for Trypanosoma vivax had a significantly lower packed cell volume, suggesting that T. vivax is the dominant Trypanosoma spp. causing anemia in this area. Among the 12 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of T. vivax CatL sequences detected, one was from a known T. vivax lineage, two OTUs were from known T. vivax-like lineages, and nine OTUs were considered novel T. vivax-like lineages. These findings support previous reports that indicated the extensive diversity of T. vivax-like lineages. The findings also indicate that combining CatL PCR with next generation sequencing is useful in assessing Trypanosoma spp. diversity, especially for T. vivax and T. vivax-like lineages. In addition, the 5.42% prevalence of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense found in cattle raises concern in the community and requires careful monitoring of human African trypanosomiasis.

Keywords: African animal trypanosomosis; Trypanosoma vivax; Trypanosoma vivax bovine trypanosomosis; Trypanosoma vivax-like; anemia; cathepsin L-like cysteine protease.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Neighbor-joining tree of 12 CatL OTUs and reference sequences for Trypanosoma vivax. (A) Phylogenetic relationship of the 12 CatL OTUs belonging to T. vivax. Bootstrap values above 70 are shown. The number of samples positive for each CatL OTUs are shown in bar graphs (black: number of cattle samples, gray: number of tsetse fly samples). (B) Nodes are defined with CatL clades (25) and T. vivax lineages (T. vivax and T. vivax-like) (27) reported for the corresponding reference sequences. SA/WA, isolates from South America and West Africa; EA-KE, isolates from Kenya and Zambia; EA-MZ, isolates from Mozambique and Zambia; Tvv, T. vivax lineage; TvL, T. vivax-like lineage.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of samples positive for each CatL OTU. The number of samples positive for each CatL OTU is shown in the bar graph for cattle, G. pallidipes, and G. m. centralis.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Comparison of packed cell volume (PCV) between villages. The PCV for ITS1 PCR positive (regardless of the species) and negative cattle are shown as boxplots for each village. Statistical significance was assessed by Wilcoxon rank sum-test (p < 0.05).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Comparison of packed cell volume (PCV) between Trypanosoma spp.-infected and non-infected cattle. The boxplot shows the comparison of the PCV between (A) T. vivax, (B) T. congolense, (C) Trypanozoon-positive and negative cattle samples (confirmed by ITS1 PCR). Statistical significance was assessed by Wilcoxon rank sum-test (p < 0.05).
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